Hello Grace Chapel! I am Mark MacDonald I am the executive Pastor here at Grace Chapel. I have been in the role for less than a year and as I looked at my job description for the role – none of what I am doing is actually part of that job description that is ok as I love being on staff and serving all of you and working alongside so many.

I am here with my son Gavin, Gavin say hello and introduce yourself:

“Hi, I am Gavin MacDonald and I am a 6th grader at Oak Hill Middle School – shout out to JC and the other 6th grade boys.”

Gavin and I are here in our attic office which I use sometimes. My wife Susan and our older kids, Jack who is 16 and Marisa who is 15 are downstairs, probably doing homework.

So, let’s start this off Jimmy Fallon style – Gavin I don’t know if you have heard but the IOC has postponed the Olympics…that means that I can stop training and just let myself go. It has also recently come out that it’s been decided that all the medals that they created for the Olympics they are going to give to families that are forced to shelter in place with with middle schoolers.

Our talk today was triggered by a book I’ve been reading by Andy Stanley titled…Irresistible…in it Andy talks about what makes a church irresistible. So, I thought Gavin could help us out today. So Gavin what is something that is irresistible?

I don’t know Mark, probably Ice Cream.

Ok, yes ice cream, we do enjoy that.

So, what about a church? If you had to say what kind of church would be irresistible, what would you say?

What as you think of an irresistible church…what comes to mind?

Probably a church willing to try new things and would be open to everyone.

Ok, that’s pretty good.

Now that we think of a church like that I turn to a passage in Mathew:

From Mathew 16:13-18

o When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do the people say the Son of Man is?”

o They replied, “Some say you are John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

o “But what about you?” he asked. “who do you say I am?”

o Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

o Jesus replied, “Blessed are you Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”

Andy goes on to share, this is the first time the word “church” appears in our English New Testaments. Translation of the word was not “church”…not even a translation but a substitution. The Greek word more closely means assembly.

I just thought that our current situation has shown us that we are called and can assemble in many unique ways. In these passages, you will find the mention of zoom meetings and YouTube streaming…Ok, no it doesn’t say that– but we are leveraging these to assemble and worship together in new and unique ways.

In this book, Andy shares the story of a young woman he meets in China that had come to faith and goes through so much to feed that faith and try to find a church she can attend…so, she asks Andy…”Why doesn’t everyone in America go to church if they can?” That is where some of the spark of this book comes from around what does an irresistible church look like that everyone would want to come too.

I think of our current situation, and it’s been awesome for the past few weeks to realize how many thousands of people around greater Boston and the world are assembling with us to worship and serve so many from that very first week through our recent Easter services.

So, although, I love our facilities and the chance to be together again, but we are reminded that we can assemble together in many ways and serve each other. So, it's also enabling us to serve each other in new and different ways.

I encourage us to continue to gather, assemble and serve each other just as we were called to do from the earliest days.

As it says on our website…Church is not a place its people and it’s all of you that make it so special.

That is our thought for today.

WE wanted to share it, Gavin and I, and we truly think that Grace Chapel is irresistible and I look forward to continue working with all of you to make it a truly irresistible place for everyone.

Gavin can you close us with a prayer form the Daily Office…

Prayer from the Daily Office:

O Lord our heavenly Father, whose blessed Son came not to be served, but to serve: We ask you to bless all who, following in his steps, give themselves to the service of others especially those who are laboring in this time of plague; endue them with wisdom, patience, and courage, that they may strengthen the weak and raise up those who fall, and, being inspired by your love, may worthily minister to the suffering, the friendless, and the needy; for the sake of him who laid down his life for us, your Son our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Thank you, Gavin, and thanks to all of you. Have a great day and be irresistible out there today.